Baka Neko
by Animangod
Summary: Kurogane is a Slayer of monsters, and Tomoyo is one of his best (most patient) friends, but one day, he finds a so called Demon that changes everything for him. KuroFai.
1. Chapter 1

It had been several years since Kurogane had finished his training to slay the beasts that crossed over to wreak havoc among the humans. Slayers was the official title. Spectral Hunter was more appropriate, as it was things like ghosts, spirits who could not be pacified in their living life had died and remained an echo left in the world. Some were pleasant, some tormented, some were nice enough as long as they were left to their ways, and some were vicious twisted things. Some wanted attention so caused trouble to be noticed.

And that was just ghosts. Demons of all shapes and sizes, although the demons caused more trouble than the most poltergeist ghosts. Demons had more power, in general, than a poltergeist. And unlike a poltergeist or other common ghost, most demons weren't fixed. That meant they could go where and as they pleased. However the crueler sides of man himself was one of demons greatest threats and so it didn't take much for a subliminal hidden war between the two sides to brew in general.

Kurogane however didn't care if they were demon ghost or inbetween. If it posed a risk to the good honest people he would do his darndest to protect then he would strike his foe down regardless of their heritage.

He was pretty good at it, what with his blessed silver sword Ginryuu at his side. He was pretty content and self satisfied with his lot so long as he took care of the things that came after the regular people.

The regular people who couldn't necessarily see what ailed them and even if they could, could usually do little to save their own skins. Some were ignorant but meant well. And the reason why demons and humans had issues had a lot to do with arrogance and the self entitlement 'everything should be mine; no one should have more happiness than me' of enough humans. So Slayers, people like himself, were trained to kill any ill willed creature. Many became an I'll willed creature in the process. However one day changed things for Kurogane. There had been a small skirmish just outside Yuko Shopping District, where the big advertisement is "The Barter System at its finest." An alert had been put out that a Demon had crossed over, causing some panic, however … reports showed no casualties and no loss of structure.

Structure was very important. Brand new buildings usually had poor structure and could withstand a few minor ill willed being and not crumble under the weight of negativity. Although one of the illest was really the the will of humans who forced a pacifist spirit to be hurt because of their own selfishness. No better than the settlers that tormented the Natives, enslaved coerced or even killed them for their own gain, claiming the lands as their own even though they were already occupied.

In this case, Kurogane usually came upon demons causing destructive practices and so without really getting to the bottom of things - he didn't have the patience of his friend Tomoyo for that kind of thing - he took out the problem with his sword. Yet this particular day, he discovered at the shopping districts a human-like creature wandering about. The creature had a bipedal human form, with nubbed fingers and one missing eye, the socket raw looking. Behind his back the real truth about his form was that he had a split tail, and feline ears instead of human ears. There were other minor details mixing the humanish creature with that of a cat spirit. From his studies, Kurogane knew the creature was a Summoning Cat. However, this one … with its nubbed fingers - a sign that it had been declawed in its prior cat self life, a painful things for any cat, hardly looked menacing.

It wore a bright happy look on its face, as it meandered about, looking at things curiously. Kurogane knew that as a slayer, that he was technically supposed to kill it… but the thing looked so harmless, that he hesitated to slay it… it's not like it was hurting anyone being about. And that was the real reason behind Slayers' duties - taking care of destructive ones not peaceful ones.

The creature approached him without reserve. Kurogane withdrew his sword and held it level, not striking yet but warning the thing he wasn't afraid to do so. Instead of shrinking away or growing hesitant, the thing still came. Either it didn't have fear of him or …

The Summoning Cat halted at the tip of Ginryuu, looking at it curiously before gently rubbing into its side. Kurogane blinked, startled by the behaviour - very unusual - before he straightened himself out and pressed the blade to its neck. It looked at Kurogane and smiled at him, bright and wide, before Kurogane would strike him, he quickly leeched himself to the human, pressing close and rubbing up affectionately against him, making feline purring noises at him. The Summoning Cat apparently did not possess human speech; even so Kurogane jerked backwards and away from, pushing some distance between them, and because the Summoning Cat had no claws, no rest of the fingers, that wasn't very difficult, and he kept the thing a little more than arm's length away.

"You. Thing! Don't do that!" Kurogane's brain was not processing things all the way because this Summoning Cat was being very out of the ordinary from what he so frequently experienced with demonic beasts.

"Myyaaaa~" he meowed at Kurogane and kept trying to attach himself to the other but Kurogane was dodging the efforts of the other. It was then that Tomoyo had to come by, and giggle at the scene of Ginryuu being swung out uselessly as Kurogane kept pushing away the efforts of the feline never actually hitting it but not wanting it to leech to him again. And he kept telling it to shoo. Tomoyo giggled at the scene before walking over.

"My Kurogane…" she said with a smile, "Seems you have an admirer."

"Tomoyo…" Kurogane turned to look in her direction, which was enough distraction that the feline human bypassed his defenses, and leeched himself to Kurogane, wrapping his arms around the other.

"Hey get off," Kurogane growled at it and received a Myyaaa - telling him that the creature had no intention of doing so, and a tittering giggle from his friend.

Kurogane let out a sigh. So much for easy mission.


	2. Chapter 2

Kurogane let out a groan. How had a simple hunt gotten so out of hand and now, he was joined by Tomoyo and the Summoning Cat and sitting at some local café they were frequent customers at. They had a good cook and a great waitress - neither ate there on Thursday as both Saiga and Sakura had the day off. Tomoyo was smiling behind a hand as the Summoning cat clung to Kurogane's arm, grinning happily at his catch. Before departing, Tomoyo had gone into the District and paid to get an eye patch to cover the wound that had once been an eye for the tag along.

Tomoyo had revealed to Kurogane his name to be Fai. A simple seeming name for a simple seeming creature. In all appearances, Fai lacked regular human speech but Tomoyo could understand him and translate as all Kurogane could pick up was that he was a noisy meower and the creature's atypical body language.

It had been Tomoyo that had convinced Kurogane to bring him along, or rather let him tag along because the thing was so attached to him, and unless someone had spectral sight, like they did, for example, another Slayer - Seishirou came to mind and he trusted the Grinch more than that man and his older brother - no one would notice anything real atypical about Fai in general, just his lack of tips of fingers, which were mostly hidden anyway with Fai wrapping both of his arms around one of Kurogane's. And Kurogane had the thought if this guy stuck around, it'd probably be good to hide his hands in some gloves so he didn't stand out too much more than he already did.

The café had half of its maximum capacity sitting. It was busy and just a little noisy with conversation and sounds of eating. A couple waitresses walked about checking on patrons and or delivering the things they asked for. Since they were there anyway, Kurogane was feeling famished and so when their waitress came by, they ordered food and drinks. Fai wanted cream.

When the waitress arrived, she placed their orders down with a smile before asking if they needed anything else as she tucked the silver serving tray close. Tomoyo lightly flirted with her, "your number would be great," she said with a wink, making the brunette blush a bright pink as she hid part of her face behind her tray.

After a few moments, their waitress was called away and left to tend another table that had requested her presence, and she promised to check on the three later. Tomoyo picked up a straw, unwrapped it before she stuck it into her milkshake before sucking out some of the contents. Kurogane used his free arm - his other had a blue eye blond haired leech on it, staring at him - and he picked up some fries to eat.

Fai stared at him and opened his mouth - Kurogane assumed to make more noise at him, from the looks of things, but instead was quiet, his mouth hung open some and he lightly tugged on Kurogane's arm.

"What?" Kurogane asked, noticing as he munched on a couple of those fries. Fai leaned in closer and tried to chomp off an end of a fry sticking out of Kurogane's mouth and Kurogane kept the blond haired Summoning Cat at bay as he finished them off without his assistance, and Tomoyo snorted quietly, and hid her mouth behind a hand, bemused by the small antics. "He wants you should feed him."

"Feed him?" Kurogane grumbled, before looking at his leech and that one bright eye staring at him then that bowl of ice cream sitting on the table and grabbing the spoon before scooping a small bite into it. He put more fries in his mouth and there was another attempt of Fai trying to eat them; Kurogane used that time to stuff the spoon in the other's mouth with that bite of ice cream. Fai made a small noise as he had the spoon shoved in his mouth. He then grew quietish as he lapped the contents in his mouth while Kurogane held the spoon for the other so it wouldn't fall and make a clatter when Fai opened his mouth.

Tomoyo smiled, seeing the care Kurogane was giving the other, even though he didn't show to care much about him. But he wasn't being too harsh to Fai either. Tomoyo watched the antics between them as she enjoyed her milkshake. Kurogane would take a huge handful of fries and stuff them in his mouth and when Fai tried to eat out of his mouth, Kurogane pushed a spoonful of ice cream in there instead and held it for him - and with their other three arms … preoccupied, it explained the larger than usual bites Kurogane was making.

When bites became more slurpy as the ice cream melted, Kurogane accommodated so he could still eat, and keep his little leech quiet. It earned him some stares from more than just Tomoyo but he was ignoring them for now.

It was when he needed to eat his fish that the real struggle came in as the ice cream was all gone, and Fai was still trying to steal his food out of his mouth. And without a spoon of ice cream his efforts were doubled, and there was this small tittering and Kurogane looked over to see what had amused his female companion when he lurched away from the other's face as Fai had gotten as far as to lick his cheek trying to get the battered oily fish Kurogane was eating. Kurogane pushed Fai's face away from his and was rewarded with his palm being licked by the Summoning Cat.

Kurogane grimaced before pulling out a napkin before realizing how good that'd do him if he couldn't free his second arm. So he set the napkin down and did his best to wipe his hand clean.

"It's an omen, Kurogane," Tomoyo spoke up.

"Huh?" His gaze shifting between the two.

"Fai licked you. It's an omen. Something strange will happen soon."

"What, like he's not strange enough as it is?"

Tomoyo didn't comment instead slurping up the last of her milkshake.


	3. Chapter 3

"Well I have to get; I'll be seeing you two later, Kurogane. Fai," Tomoyo said with a warm smile, as she gently ruffled Fai's hair, earning a purr from the creature. However he had not relented his hold of Kurogane's arm.

"..what?" Kurogane asked with a raised brow, catching that plural thrown in there, "what do you mean both of us? You mean he's really gonna stick around? What the fuck am I supposed to do with this lech?"

"Language, Kurogane. Besides, I have good faith you'll figure it out soon, but right now I need to go speak with Arashi, so no matter how much it pains me to see you go, you'll have to be fine without me," Tomoyo replied with what Kurogane rolled his eyes at the melodramatics. She then stood on her tiptoes and lightly tugged Kurogane down to plant a quick kiss on his cheek, before giving Fai a kiss to the forehead, earning a purr from the creature. She smiled at that as she gently scratched under his chin, "Until next time," she said with a wave before heading off, leaving the two standing there.

"This is Bullshit," Kurogane muttered.

"Myyan~" Fai meowed at Kurogane, and Kurogane swore that Summoning cat was mocking him. He didn't have proof but he had a hunch and they were usually right.

"What you say, you clingy bastard?" Kurogane growled at Fai, his other hand clenching into a shaking fist, and Fai grinned brightly at him, undeterred, before making the same meow at him, as cheeky as before.

"….." Kurogane let out a huff. "Seriously, what does Tomoyo expect I'm to do with you?"

Fai looked at him innocently a curious question in his eye and the way his head tipped.

Several miles from that cafe, Arashi prepared tea for the anticipated arrival of two fellow Dream Seers, Tomoyo and Shura. Within half an hour, both had arrived at the gates of the Temple where they were to meet. Arashi greeted the two with a polite smile and small bow. Tomoyo and Shura smiled gently and bowed in return. "Welcome to Shirobanto Temple," Arashi greeted.

"It's good to visit again, Arashi," Tomoyo said.

"It's nice to finally meet outside of dreams," Shura said.

"This way," Arashi said with a small hand gesture, and led the way into the Temple, where kneeling pillows had been set down near the altar of the Temple. The two kneeled letting their knees rest on the pillow and Arashi strode away for a minute and returned with a tray, with a teapot and three porcelain white teacups.

Setting the tray down softly, Arashi kneeled down on her pillow and poured all three of them a cup. Setting the teapot down, she gracefully handed each a teacup first before picking up her own.

"Now, to the reason we are gathered here…" Arashi began.

Kurogane heaved an annoyed breath as he had to shove Fai's arms off of his in order to free his arm long enough to unlock the gate outside his home. Although as he worked at unlocking it, Fai leeched his arms around the man's waist from behind, and nuzzled his face against his back with a light purr. Kurogane tch'd as he got the wrought iron lock off and pushed the gates open.

Fai peeked from beneath Kurogane's arm and watched as the gates opened for the sword wielding Slayer with ease. Kurogane took steps through the gates and Fai went along with him. Seeing as he was able to pass through his mother's barrier, well, Kurogane figured it'd be okay for now if he hung around, although he quietly swore if he did anything to harm his mother, he's slay him on the spot. He turned around and grabbed the gates, shutting them with a resounding clang before clamping the wrought iron lock back on and removing the key.

With the lock once more secure around the gates, Kurogane stuffed his hands into his pockets still holding onto the key as he slowly walked down the meandering dirt path to where he lived with his mother and eight others. Nearby was densely packed with trees surrounding the dirt path, and grass grew at the edges, blue flowers in bloom.

As he reached the main area, an older home with a built-in Shrine, four of his mother's five maidens approached him. All of them had just a little Sight into things preternatural. Kurogane always forgot their names, and just remembered them by what was the obvious differences between them. There was the brunnette warrior who he would give sword lessons to as she wished to follow along in the footsteps of his mother and himself - his mother could build barriers while he slew evil beings.

There was Little Miss pigtails who was a very serious person and wore bells with her white ribbons in her hair and Curly bangs who was a very cheerfully energetic hard worker and a bit of a ditz wore a red ribbon in her hair and wore noisy bangles; the two occasionally had a viewpoint dispute and then of course there was the one that had freckles on both her cheeks that Kurogane thought looked like a leaf pattern and could often be found carrying tamagushi in her sash.

The one that didn't appear had straight hair with the larger white ribbon and a dye job, blue and silver streaks in her hair. An otaku, who dyed her hair after her favorite fictional character and carried an azusayumi. All wore the same basic traditional garb for a miko. Curly bangs and Leaf freckles were the two that wore the pleated skirt while the other three wore the red hakama variant instead. They all carried a string of Shinto beads.

"Sir Kurogane; you're back," Brunnette greeted with a polite smile, her wooden sword at her hilt.

"Ah; how is Mother?"

"She is performing the kamukura," Pigtails said in a monotonous voice.

"Who's your guest, Kurogane?" Leaf freckles asked, Curly bangs already coming to check out the other, her bangles jingling with her footsteps.

"Tomoyo says his name's Fai."

Fai rubbed his head against Kurogane's armpit as he peeked out more, and smiled at the women.


End file.
